The Proposal
by MissDassin
Summary: Jerry has an important question for Lise


Jerry was straight up scared. Not as scared as the times he had to jump out of planes with the grave fact that the parachute won't work, or ducking from the path of death and holding his childhood friends in their last moments of their life trying to comfort them. Somehow he had made it, and felt guilty for that. But he chose to carry on with the minds and hearts of those who fell, that is until life threw him a whole new battlefield.

Lise had noticed Jerry had been acting weird. He was jittery, but yet again when wasn't he? Ever since he bought that perfume from her at the parfumerie a few days ago, he seemed surprised whenever she approached him and he still hasn't given her the perfume.

Unless he had bought the perfume for another girl. A girl who was prettier, slender, and more of a woman that is found in every male dream. A girl like Milo. Gentleman prefer blondes, right? Maybe Jerry wanted a life just like those American movies, and Lise just wasn't enough. Lise shouldn't let this distract her from all of her warm ups. Olga is starting to glare at her. So she focused on her dance and danced normally as always, but had lacked confidence in doing so. She lost all precision in her foot and didn't have much great balance either and almost tumbled Jerry walked in. She guessed he was here to sketch the dancers, again and to probably think of the set for the upcoming ballet. She didn't dare look at him but it was hard not to because Jerry clearly darted in here, as if attempting to run faster than the speed of light. He had a backpack with him for once, which was unusual because she had never seen him wear one. Ever.

So she danced on and on and time blended into itself. She glanced casually in the direction of Jerry, losing all focus of the choreography she was doing she wanted to see if he had sketched anything but there was nothing on the page it looked. His feet were strangely fidgety. Adam was whispering something to him looking in her general direction. She thought he heard him ask what's wrong with him, maybe that was just her. She heard Olga clear her throat. Oh no.

"Miss Dassin, you're the the focal point of this whole ballet… you need to act like it," she injected from across the room.

"I'm sorry, Madame," Lise said timidly. Both Adam and Jerry were staring at her now and Adam said something. She felt sweat bead up on her forehead, she figured she'd find out what was wrong with Jerry after practice, so she might as well dance the time off.

"What is wrong with you?" asked Adam hissed. "You've been staring at her this whole time and your feet are fidgety again! Lise keeps staring over here and I'm pretty sure she thinks you've gone insane,"

/

"Well, I'm going to… um… do the whole asking of her hand in marriage thing," Jerry admitted, finally.

"No you're not," Adam exclaimed, with a note of surprisement. "Well good luck with that… and try to make it so you don't look like you're on some sort of drug and you should be fine, or else she'll be off marrying some french dude,"

"Thank you. You just made me feel ten times better than before," Jerry said sarcastically gently hitting Adam on the shoulder, as he finished up the concerto

"That's what friends are for… to tell you the truth and shed a little darkness and despair while doing so," Adam called out, but Jerry was almost half way across the room.

"Liza!" Jerry called out, being gazed with her ice blue eyes. Jerry knew this was going to be harder than he thought.

"You have to see my sketches of the sets while we're at the park!"

Lise laughed at his enthusiasm. "But you'll have to carry me home… I can barely walk on my own two feet!" Lise joked as she untied her shoes and threw them into her bag.

Jerry laughed "I promise!"

Taking her by the arm, Lise and Jerry made their way across the threshold of the ballet and back out into the sorrow filled Paris. It had gotten better since he'd met Lise, but there's still a despairing look to it. The park was honestly one of the only things that looked like it was never touched by the war. But yet again, the people who walked around in it were.

/

Jerry had honestly lost himself now, in Lise's opinion and she had fair proof. He hadn't sketched anything for the ballet. But when Lise tried to say something, Jerry said that Mr. Z had wanted a simple design, that featured the glow of a diamond but featured noted greys and blues in the background.

They began to people watch as they always did on "their bench". They listened to the water ripple again the dock. Everything was great in this moment. Lise forgot the pain in her toes and her legs, and focused on Jerry's heartbeat at least until he gently shooed her off.

"Liza! Look at the honeymooners!" Jerry exclaimed.

Lise had turned to look. Nothing was there except a few pigeons.

"What do you mean? I don't see them at all! Are you-" Lise turned around, to watch him take out a velvet box from what was meant to hold perfume.

Jerry then got down on one knee, and opened the box which contained a ring one that looked like it was a prop for those American movies. Except this was real, and Lise couldn't help by cry a little. She had finally found the man she will love for the rest of her life.

"I've known you for a while Liza… and I'm grateful for staying in Paris just to find you because you've helped me recover from the invisible wounds I had from the war. I may of had to wait for you, but it was sure worth it. From this bench, we've both grown as two individuals. This is where we've always spent our time, and it's where I want to spend the rest of our time. It would be such an incredible honor to call you my wife. Will you marry me?" Jerry beamed back up at her

"Oui, oui, oui!" Lise exclaimed her eyes still welled with tears. "This is why you've been acting so weird! And you planned this all with the blank sketchbook page, and buying the perfume from me! I knew it! You always get fidgety feet when you're nervous!" as he slid the ring on her finger.

"Yeah, well how do you expect a guy like me to propose to a guy like you to propose to a girl as pretty as you? Even Henri had a hard time!" Jerry laughed, and Lise did too.

"Maybe love is like your American movies," Lise said

"It always is, you've just got to find a way to make a happy ending,"

"Are you up for your first challenge as a future husband, Jerry?" "Practice carrying me home,"

"Alright, Lise… as long as we practice the wedding dance later…" Jerry beamed as he picked her up.

"It's a compromise we can all live with,"

Jerry's laugh beamed off of the gloomy Paris buildings. The city had some how changed, as if it were less gloomy. Maybe that's because he found someone to roll the clouds away.

/

 _Later On_

"Lise Dassin! You need to get over here, " Olga yelled.

"What is it, Madame?" Lise asked, timidly

"What is that shiny thing on your finger? Did Jerry propose?" Olga asked, taking her hand out.

"Oh yes, Madame. He did so last night," Lise said, politely.

One of the ballet dancers called out "Lise is getting married! No way!" and all of a sudden the reign of silence clamored into "Have you looked at dresses?", "How'd he propose?", "Jerry is so dreamy, I wish he would marry me!" (Lise glared at that remark), "When are you going to have the wedding?" and "Am I going to be invited?" were some of the few audible remarks the ballerinas made, that is until Jerry walked in.

The clamoring stopped, and everyone eyed every single movement he made. Everyone except Lise. Jerry didn't notice this until he sat down.

Jerry eyed them all and cleared his throat. "Is everything alright?"

He got no answer though, the ballerinas all in fact acted like they didn't hear the question and just started their warm ups. Olga did whisper something to Jerry while looking at Lise. Jerry nodded his head at whatever she was saying and said:

 _I know I'm a lucky fella. She's really got something special._

Lise had been obviously practicing until three in the morning again, because here she laid curled up on the floor.

"Time for bed, Liza… it's three in the morning again," Jerry whispered groggily picking Lise up and carrying her bridal style up the stairs into their bedroom.

"Je t'aime, Jerry through and through," Lise whispered groggily squinting her eyes to admire his handsomeness.

"Je t'aime to you, too," Jerry repeated lightly placing her on the bed. As he put her under the covers, he saw her wedding ring shimmer in the moonlight it still was unreal to him that this girl promised to devote her life to him.

As he settled down next to her and wrapped his arms around her, admiring her sleeping face. The luck he had and has been having, didn't end just yet… it had only just begun.


End file.
